JUST WHO ARE GOOD PEOPLE? LOOK INSIDE and find out 2014

GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE www.goodpeoplefund.org Heshvan 5775 • November 2014 OUR STORY Dear Friends of the Good People Fund,

Each year as I sit down to write this message, the final step in a process that spans several months, I am reminded of the generosity of each of you, our donors, who make this work possible. Once the body of this report is composed I can see before me the significant scope and impact of our work. It never ceases to amaze me and it certainly makes this work fulfilling beyond the norm. Photo by Mark Berkley

I am often asked, “How do you find these amazing people and programs?” I sometimes ask myself that same question, not so much the mechanics of finding them (that’s another conversation) but how such extraordinary people or programs exist in the first instance, as each one of them is awe-inspiring and quietly engaging in acts that by all measure are selfless and compassionate. This past year alone we discovered 13 new Good People who are responding passionately and creatively to right some wrong in our world. Love and socialization opportunities for severely disabled people? For Rabbi Shaul Inbari, himself profoundly disabled, it was a most ordinary question but his response was extraordinary — starting an organization in Israel that opens doors for people with profound disabilities to establish meaningful relationships. Rescuing enslaved children? Yet another ordinary question that evoked an extraordinary response by Evan Robbins, a dedicated high school teacher, who read an article about kids sold into slavery in Ghana and was moved to form an organization to rescue them. Rabbi Inbari and Evan and the remaining 11 new visionaries did not sit back and wait for others to act; they responded and in so doing serve as a reminder that each of us can change the world.

Mentoring Matters many of them work other jobs to support themselves and … the expertise, advice and connections that you gave us were much perhaps a family while trying to “grow” their effort; some are more valuable than the dollars. alone — they have no staff to delegate to or to share ideas with — all while tackling complex injustices in the world. Time and I took pause when I received this message from one of our time again we hear variations on the above comment…how grantees. We know our grants matter but our unique “hands-on” different we are in our approach; how much we really “get it” and approach to tzedakah clearly matters too. So much of our time is understand the challenges associated with non-profit work; and spent mentoring our Good People as they go about their work. finally, how much we ”seem to care about the most important Few are professionally trained in non-profit management; issues in such a genuine way.”

Nothing gives us greater pleasure than to actually track the impact of our funds and the advice we offer. For so many of our www.goodpeoplefund.org programs this hands-on approach has allowed them to build Small actions, huge impacts capacity and reach that next level in their development. I liken it to watering and feeding spring seedlings — with just the right Contact the Good People Fund: amount of attention they can eventually blossom and flourish. Seeing this all unfold makes each day more worthwhile than the last. Email: [email protected] Phone: (973) 761-0580 We’re Growing Perhaps one day ours will become a household name and we can When people first learn about our work we often hear, ”How attribute some of that success to our growing team. come I have never heard of you before”? Some have even described us as the “best kept secret in the tzedakah world”. It And finally, if you haven’t yet had the chance, we invite you to is true. Much like our grantees, we operate below the radar. view a short video we produced this past year with the help of an But, our message is an important one that we believe should be anonymous donor. This three minute film(http://bit.ly/1E6H9aD) shared. With the help of donors who agree, we were excited to explains our distinctive approach to tzedakah through the voices engage two outstanding individuals in a part-time consultant of the founders of two of our current programs. In truth, what capacity to help spread our message to both students and to they say about the value and impact of our work tells our story traditional media audiences. best — a story that would not be possible without the generosity and compassion of all of you, our loyal donors, who recognize Robyn Faintich, an Atlanta-based Jewish values education the unique nature of our work and give us the means to grow it specialist completing her doctorate in service learning has even further. come on board as our Education Outreach Consultant and has already produced materials now being disseminated to Jewish As a long-time supporter recently shared, “they move fast, they educators. Rachel Litcofsky, previously Assistant Director of the create tangible results, and they give a much-needed injection of Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University resources and support to these otherwise struggling individuals serves as our PR Consultant and has been instrumental in or organizations.” With your help we can continue to move getting our name out to many communities and media outlets. at this quick pace to bring help where it is needed most and together create a tidal wave of good. Robyn and Rachel, along with our Associate Director, Debbie Klein, have contributed exponentially to our work and I am excited for the new directions and possibilities that await us.

The Four S’s We believe that what Scope: Screening: Supervision: Speed: makes our work both The programs we work We take the screening Once we commit to an When needs are great, unusual and highly with cover a broad process very seriously, organization, we don’t time is of the essence. effective can best be spectrum of needs carefully vetting each just hand them a check. We work efficiently and described by the four – from poverty and organization we fund We supervise their work often on a moment’s S’s – scope, screening, hunger to elders and to be sure their work is and guide them on notice to insure that supervision and speed: disabilities, and more. legitimate. their way. needs are met as swiftly as possible. War in israel

Operation Tzuk Eitan (Protective Edge) The war in Israel this past The past summer reminded us once again how fragile peace and stability can be for the summer occurred after the State of Israel. Whether you stand “left” or “right” or somewhere in between, a very real close of our fiscal year and, danger existed with over 75% of the country threatened by unending rocket attacks and the discovery of tunnels burrowed under kibbutzim on the border. Once again we wrestled as such, relevant financials with the question of where to help. How do we best use our resources in ways that are both effective and meaningful and consistent with our philosophy? We are a modest-sized will not be reported herein; tzedakah fund (though proud of the fact that we have contributed more than $3,300,000 to Israeli programs since our inception) committed to assisting those who might be however, the events that overlooked by larger organizations that collect significant sums of money. We have been, and will always be, dedicated to people who reside “in the corners”, often hidden from view transpired and the impact and yet in need. So, the challenge for us was twofold: to pinpoint those on the margins and then to define the very best ways to help them overcome the war’s impact. of our efforts were too After experiencing five wars in Israel and innumerable natural disasters we know that many significant to ignore in needs arise in the aftermath of the crisis when the “dust settles”. This war was no different. this Annual Report. Initially we directed our resources towards the Fund for Needy Immigrants in Beersheva where frequent rocket attacks left the city’s new olim (immigrants) even more unsettled and to Lt. Col (ret) Tzvika Levy whose work with lone soldiers, many of whom served on the border or in Gaza, was especially critical.

It is now nearly three months post ceasefire, yet the needs are still plentiful. 64 soldiers were killed in this war, with nearly half of them leaving behind a fiancée or girlfriend. Phyllis Heimowitz and theAmuta for the Support of Girlfriends and Fiancées of Fallen Soldiers are a lifeline for an unprecedented number of new young women who require the kind of support that only her organization can provide. Plans are also underway for trauma therapy for vulnerable individuals in Beersheva, Ashkelon and in a Bedouin community in the Negev where residents have no protective bomb shelters and yet were subjected to numerous rocket attacks.

Much like our peace-time efforts, our Operation Protective Edge efforts brought us to the “front lines” but always with careful and deliberate vetting that maximizes the impact of every tzedakah dollar spent. War in israel HUMAN NEEDS AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY A Place to Turn When All Else Fails ISR and USA

I am in awe of the generosity and compassion of [the] Good People resources available for their benefit. For a limited number of them [Fund]. Your efforts help to save people’s lives. By standing with whose circumstances are particularly difficult we may provide a families in their darkest and most humiliating moments you give people modest monthly rent supplement or extra scrip for holiday food the strength and the grace to surmount obstacles. shopping. As one survivor recently wrote, “It is very special to be able to buy some of my favorite foods to bring in the New Year.” Each aspect of our work is uniquely satisfying. But, the stories we hear of individuals living on the edge, struggling to stay afloat Most often we step in with a utility payment in response to an are often the most compelling. We are continually stunned by the imminent loss of services, a rent or arrears check to stave off fragility of so many people’s existence; of lives upended by events homelessness, clothing to preserve dignity and food to lessen so often out of one’s control — a health emergency, eviction, the hunger. Sometimes we serve as a safety net for people in loss of a job, fleeing religious and cultural persecution and far transition as in the case of the young woman who fled from her more. ultra-Orthodox community to begin a new life in the secular world without the support of family and friends, or the Darfuri refugee When no other avenue of support exists, we are gratified that who risked his life to flee certain death and now seeks political many donors allow us to use their tzedakah for such situations. asylum in the US. He is now pursuing a college degree so that he Doctors, social workers, even some of our own Good People both can ultimately help others in similar situations. here and in Israel, turn to us when they learn of individuals with emergent needs that cannot be met elsewhere. With careful To be given the privilege of resolving a critical situation, and vetting we can typically act quickly and resolve what might changing someone’s life at the same time is an extraordinary otherwise be an insurmountable problem. honor.

Amongst these individuals are aging Shoah survivors, many of whom struggle despite what is commonly thought to be significant contents War In Israel Opening Spread Kentucky 14 HUMAN NEEDS AND Opening Spread Keren Segulat Naomi 15 SELF-SUFFICIENCY *Mitzvah Circle Foundation 15 *One Can Help 15 HUNGER Sunday Friends 15-16 Amir Project 1 The Forgotten People Fund 16 AmpleHarvest.org 1 The Redistribution Center 16 Backpack Buddies 1 Food Forward 1-2 ELDERS Gideon Ben Ami 2 Alice Jonah and The Diplomat Hotel 17 *Second Helpings Atlanta 3 In Their Shoes 17 The Bagel Brigade 3 LiLY-Lifeforce in Later Years 17 Village Harvest 3 Project Ezra 18 Youngstown Community Food Bank 3-4 Survivor Mitzvah Project 18 Zehava and Karyn-Feeding the Neighbors 4 The Jack and Eleanor Borden Kosher Meal Fund/ 18 *Necha Malka 4 National Foundation to End Senior Hunger Darchei Tzion - The Beit Shean Food Pantry 4 VETERANS IN THE US AND ISRAEL KIDS A Package From Home 18-19 Art Creation Foundation for Children 4-5 Tzvika Levy and the Lone Soldiers Program 19 Beit Hayeled 5 Veterans Farm 19 Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Israel 5 Birthday Angels 5 ILLNESS, DISABILITIES AND WELL-BEING *Breaking the Chain Through Education 6 Amuta (Non-Profit) for the Emotional Support 19 Change the Truth 6 of Girlfriends and Fiancées of Fallen IDF Soldiers *Creating Connected Communities 6 ATZUM 20 Jack the Bike Man 7 Hosts for Hospitals 20 Kaima 7 *Inbar 20-21 *Leveling the Playing Field 7 Jeremy’s Circle 21 Reading Village 7-8 Kashouvot 21 *S.A.H.I. 8 The New York Center for Law and Justice 21 Shutaf 8 *Shalheveth 22 The Quincy Kids 8-9 Volunteers in Psychotherapy 22 *Tzimaon 9 OUTREACH AND INREACH WOMENS EMPOWERMENT Keren Baktana 22 Female Hebrew Benevolent Society 9 Kulanu 23 Get Jewish Divorce Justice 9-10 *Skilled Volunteers for Israel 23 New Orleans Women’s Shelter 10 Unchained At Last 10 Allocations 24 Yotsrot-Turning the Tables 10-11 Financial Statement 25

ALTERNATIVE HEALING OF BODY AND MIND *New program HAMA Israel-Humans and Animals in Mutual Assistance 11 The printing of this report was underwritten by donor-recommended funds. INTRA-Israel National Therapeutic Riding Association 11 Lev Leytzan~Heart of a Clown 11-12 Board of Trustees Music & Memory 12 Arthur Brenner, Chairman • Marc Fogel • Peter Freimark • Shelter Music Boston 12 Rabbi Gordon Fuller, Secretary • Evelyn Herwitz • *Tunefoolery 12-13 Allen Katzoff • Erik Lindauer, Treasurer • Ben Plotkin • Roni Rubenstein POVERTY Down the Block 13 Lisa Lindauer, Honorary Board Member Family-to-Family 13 Mark Berkley, Graphic Designer - www.markberkley.com Fund for Needy Immigrants 13-14 Gabriel Project Mumbai 14 HUNGER the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE it took was Gary’s technical background to reconcile these two HUNGER ends of the hunger spectrum. Through an online database home gardeners with surplus harvest connect to local food pantries Amir Project USA that rarely receive healthy fresh produce. That’s exactly the Inspiring Young Adults to Pursue Social Justice through kernel of an idea that has earned Gary recognition as one of the Gardening most creative voices in the war against hunger. Today, after just five years and with minimal staffing, some of which we make The Amir Garden…has been blossoming with joy, curiosity, possible, AmpleHarvest.org, has successfully registered more vegetables, flowers and knowledge…As the campers breathe life into than 7,000 food pantries across all 50 states — a virtual solution the garden they have been learning how it does the same for them. that delivers millions of pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables We hope that through this exchange of care, campers will harvest a to millions of pantry clients. Above all, it has meant a healthier bushel of knowledge that they can bring back to their homes… and less hungry America, one garden, one home, one pantry at a time. Summer camp is synonymous with sun and fun, but for thousands of campers at 23 North American camp-sites, it also Backpack Buddies USA is a place where children become “enlightened agents of change” Filling Backpacks with Food to Feed Hungry Children through an innovative garden-based learning program call Amir. The writer above is an Amir Farmer and her words capture much It all began in 2011 when a teacher overheard chatter between of what the campers experience when fortunate enough to two boys. One called the other “crazy” for his excitement that join a camp community that adopts the Amir model. Officially it was Monday, but when he explained the rationale behind his founded in 2010 by and two friends, Amir is a natural David Fox comment it made sense. Monday was the beginning of another outgrowth of their passion for camp, gardening and social school week and school was synonymous with food. Millions of justice. The program empowers youth to become stewards of the children share this stark reality as they arrive at school hungry. earth and social justice leaders as they learn basic garden skills For some, school may be the only place where food is a certainty. and grow nutritious food to feed people who are hungry. In four years what was a single site has become the thriving network Backpacks filled with nutritious food for hungry school children that it is today. Further strengthening this experiential learning on the weekends — a fine local, on-the-ground response to model, each camp donates its crop to local food pantries. our widespread food injustice problem. For some low-income families in the Aberdeen, NJ area, Backpack Buddies — a Amir’s expertise begins with the recruitment of talented and signature project of the Temple Shalom Social Action Committee committed college students who undergo an intensive training — has become a lifeline. How does it work? On Fridays, a group fellowship to become Farmer-Fellows. Towards this end, our of 30 children (they started with 10) on the federally-funded grant makes possible a year-round Farm Apprentice to further lunch program selected in consultation with school personnel enhance the curriculum and training offered to the Farmer- and with parental permission, leave school with healthy ready- Fellows. prepared foods to bridge the weekend gap.

AmpleHarvest.org USA Our matching grant allows the temple’s compassionate Gardeners Helping Hungry Neighbors volunteers, led by committed leaders Lou Schoen and Helene Monat, to purchase and package the food which is then A kernel of an idea…a sharp mind…an obvious need. Sometimes distributed in coordination with staff at three local elementary it’s that perfect mixture of these three ingredients that schools. spark a perfect program. Gary Oppenheimer, founder of AmpleHarvest.org was a master gardener himself, responsible Food Forward USA for the local community garden. He knew that 42 million Rescuing Fresh Produce to Feed People in Need Americans grew produce in home gardens and were partially responsible for the 100 billion pounds of food thrown away With more than 96 billion pounds of food left unharvested in our annually. In addition, 50 million Americans live in food insecure nation’s fields (for a variety of reasons) we know that the state homes and are reliant on the more than 33,500 local food of California, a huge source of fresh fruit, vegetables, grains and pantries to feed their families. nuts, accounts for a significant amount of product that could be

gleaned and passed along to hungry people. Excess and access. With so much excess food grown in home gardens, how could he create access to this backyard bounty? All www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 01 HUNGER the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE It was Rick Nahmias’ walk with his late dog, Scout, that opened Gleaning provides enormous amounts of food which explains his eyes to the vast amount of citrus that lay rotting on private why a portion of our grant this year went towards a regional property in and around Los Angeles. What if volunteers could conference (organized by Food Forward) for Southern California pick the fruit before it fell to the ground and it was then turned gleaning programs to share best practices and increase their over to local feeding programs? From that realization grew Food impact even more. We also funded the Fruit Drive Program which Forward which recently rescued its 5,000,000th pound of fresh teaches kids how to join together to combat waste (through produce (which reaches more than 100,000 hungry people). gleaning) and hunger. The program will pilot in eight schools and Farmer’s markets so popular in California provide additional will ultimately include development of a formal curriculum. product as does their latest program, The Wholesale Market Recovery Program, which rescues tons of perfectly good produce from the area’s many wholesale vendors and directs it to local Our Story: agencies. http://bit.ly/1E6H9aD

Gideon Ben Ami ISR One Man’s Quest to Feed Hungry People in Tel Aviv

You have no idea how much love and affection I receive from the with landlords to lower monthly rent, arranging for day care so a people we are helping. It’s such a joy, yet mixed with deep sadness single mom can return to work, planning a carnival-like day for and heart wrenching pains at times. It’s not exactly the food we bring dozens of African refugee children — and whatever else he can over…or the items that they sometimes desperately need. It’s the fact do to lift people up when they’ve hit the very bottom. that they are abandoned by their families and society. When they see us, they express such an overwhelming feeling of appreciation it’s Since we piloted the food recovery project over a year ago, touching and moving. It’s absolutely addictive. the program has evolved. Breads and cakes and bourekas can certainly reduce hunger, but there are healthier alternatives to It is difficult to put into words the humanity thatG ideon Ben the carbs and sugar. Gideon’s creative solution to that problem Ami personifies. The thoughts expressed here, sent after a long was to enlist a group of volunteer “soup-makers” who during the day’s work, gives a sense of what fuels his soul. A tireless man- cooler weather, prepare vats of rich, flavorful soup for delivery of-many-compassionate-talents, this former restaurateur spends to local shelters. At a cost of less than 30 shekels (less than $10), every waking minute of his retirement driving from bakeries to this tasty and nutritious meal has become a welcome staple on supermarkets and other food purveyors, picking up donations his route. Gideon’s latest venture has him distributing nutritious of leftovers, as much as he can possibly squeeze into each nook produce from Leket, Israel’s premier food rescue organization. of his van. For battered women, homeless shelter residents, Through Leket’s extraordinary generosity people who rarely eat African refugee school children, and the poorest of the poor who tomatoes, eggplant, sweet potatoes, corn, beets, peppers and are sometimes hidden in the affluence of Tel Aviv and beyond, more can now enjoy this bounty. Gideon’s arrival means relief from hunger and the comfort of knowing someone cares. With our support, Gideon has literally been able to feed thousands of people — certainly proving that small actions can To many, Gideon is a miracle worker. To us he is that and more have huge impacts. This one-man-with-a-van round-the-clock — an entrepreneur constantly seeking concrete solutions to mobile food pantry is changing the face of hunger in Tel Aviv. desperate personal situations. When he isn’t busy rescuing food We are glad to be along for this meaningful ride. he spends his “free time” placing people in jobs, negotiating

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*Second Helpings Atlanta uSA Village Harvest USA Rescuing Food in Atlanta Creating Community While Harvesting Fruit

Years ago Guenther Hecht held an enviable job with an Atlanta Northern California leads the country in the production of department store. He was responsible for implementing the more than 30 different agricultural products — everything from store’s policy of donating two percent of its profits, and his asparagus to watermelon. The fertile soil and temperate climate “portfolio” included organizations that addressed hunger and offer optimal conditions to make this abundance possible. homelessness. What an eye-opening experience it was. When Craig Diserens was part of a team that founded the Bay Guenther and his family moved to Hilton Head, SC, he and his Area’s Village Harvest which relies on volunteers to glean this wife decided to fight hunger there with the founding of Second abundance (nearly 500,000 pounds last year alone) from private Helpings-Hilton Head in 1994. In 2002 when they returned property and re-developed orchards and deliver it to local hunger to Atlanta, Guenther convinced his temple to start a similar programs for distribution to people who rarely enjoy the taste of program which has today become an independent non-profit fresh and healthy produce. What differentiates Village Harvest’s organization, Second Helpings Atlanta. With the help of several efforts is their belief that the volunteers’ actions actually hundred volunteers, each day Second Helpings rescues food from strengthen the community around them. the typical sources in and around Atlanta and then efficiently delivers it all to community agencies that feed hungry people. Craig’s gentle passion for this work is evident in the very The group has proudly rescued millions of pounds of nutritious deliberate and thoughtful way he manages Village Harvest. food that would otherwise go to a landfill. Working with a minimal staff he is slowly building infrastructure with the hope that the organization’s systems can be easily Our funds are directed to solidifying the infrastructure of this replicated by other small local gleaning groups throughout the (mostly) volunteer group. region.

The Bagel Brigade USA In what is now known as Silicon Valley once stood the “Valley Distributing Leftover Baked Goods in LA of Heart’s Delight,” world-famous for its fruit. Our funds this year underwrote The Orchards Harvesting Program which Throughout his life, the lateHerman Berman, z’l, recalled organizes volunteers to pick historic or noncommercial orchards his childhood, when his parents struggled to feed their four (some were even planted during the Gold Rush 150 years ago) children, often depriving themselves so that their offspring and provides healthy food while preserving and restoring old could eat. It was that very memory that inspired Herman in orchards for future generations. 1992 to begin The Bagel Brigade, an all-volunteer Los Angeles group of (mostly) retirees. Working seven days a week, the Youngstown Community uSA group scours area bakeries and supermarkets retrieving leftover Food Bank bread, bagels, cakes and more which is then donated to local Feeding Hungry Families in the Rust Belt pantries, social service agencies and schools in areas where the population, mostly migrant workers and low income families, is It all started in the back of a 1978 Oldsmobile station wagon. deeply grateful for this extra help. When Joe Lordi’s successful grocery business faltered he faced a huge financial setback as well as loss of a steady income. The The Brigade’s system is simple and well-organized with family finally turned to food stamps and welfare as the only volunteers making their pick-ups, gathering in the parking lot of means to sustain themselves. For a proud man who always a warehouse store in the early morning hours and there handing provided for those he loved, this change was devastating. Rather off the food to partner agencies. The Brigade’s numbers speak than remain mired in self-pity Joe chose to act. Realizing that for themselves. In the course of a week they collect about 350 if his family was suffering there were surely others in similar bags of food with a value of over $4,000. If you multiply that by circumstances, Joe approached local businesses for donated food 52 weeks (in a year) you see very quickly just how much food and other items and soon filled his station wagon with all that is saved and passed along to hungry people. The group’s small had been offered. Almost overnight, 75 people came to retrieve budget to which our funds are directed covers insurance, a van, food from the back of his car. gasoline and plastic bags — a pretty lean operation. Today, the Youngstown (OH) Community Food Bank provides food for nearly 8,000 people each month. Some arrive each Tuesday, 52 weeks a year, to fill grocery bags with what they www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 03 HUNGER the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE need, while more than 100 local social service agencies also even her neighbors offered leftovers which Shira passed along to benefit from Joe’s donations. As well, local farms often drop off those families she knew would benefit from the help. A neighbor huge cardboard boxes filled with fresh produce. learning of her work and seeking a way to honor his mother’s memory gave Shira her first donation to purchase food and begin Working at Joe’s side all of these years was his beloved wife, her program in a more regular fashion. Linda, who died suddenly this past year and whose loss has been felt deeply by all who knew her. A kind and gentle man, Joe’s The project, Necha Malka, serves 24 families who have difficulty singular mission has been to help others which is why we love making ends meet (with another 10 on the waiting list) for nothing more than to help him pay the few bills his work accrues a myriad of reasons ranging from divorce to serious illness — insurance, vehicle registration, gas — the least we could do to job loss. All cases are vetted by a local social worker and make his job easier. each receives a bi-weekly package which includes meat, dairy products, produce and other items. Volunteers fuel all of this Solving Hunger in the Neighborhood activity carried out in a discrete and respectful manner.

Zehava and Karyn - ISR The third and final local program can be found in Beit Shean, one of Israel’s poorest cities. Darchei Tzion-The Beit Shean Food Feeding the Neighbors Pantry was started by a few local residents who recognized that there were families and individuals who needed additional food, *Necha Malka - ISR particularly for Shabbat. They prepare and distribute more than 45,000 meals annually, with even more people getting packages during the holidays. While most of the food they distribute is Darchei Tzion - ISR donated, there remains a need for additional items for Shabbat The Beit Shean Food Pantry and holidays and that is where we direct our funds.

As we review all of the creative and diverse hunger programs It is their simplicity that makes these three small programs so we support, we notice that some address hunger on a global effective and that brings what is too often believed an intractable scale, others focus on creative systems that can end hunger and problem, down to its most basic and solvable essence. yet others set out to alleviate hunger on the micro-level — one individual or neighborhood at a time. KIDS In Israel, where 16% of the population struggles with hunger, a number which continues to rise year after year, there are many Art Creation Foundation uSA compelling examples of micro-level programs. The first operates for Children in the relatively affluent Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem. Using the Arts to Help Haiti’s Children There, two women,Karyn Gellman and Zehava Taub (Zehava is now out of the country temporarily) were inspired to act How many people can boast that they’ve raised hundreds of kids? after they uncovered families wanting for food even in this Most of us are satisfied navigating the challenges of two or three comfortable area. A group of neighbors have adopted these or four, but Judy Hoffman is “mother” to the hundreds of kids families and each month they prepare food packages and quietly fortunate enough to be part of Art Creation Foundation for deliver them to the homes of those previously identified as in Children (ACFFC) in Jacmel, Haiti. Responding to the sight of need. For holidays and emergencies we provide supermarket young children begging on the streets and the extreme poverty scrip which Karyn distributes with care. that surrounded them, Judy and others began this small, informal art program to train kids in a skill that they could one The second program operates in Hashmonaim, an Israeli yishuv day parlay into a modest living. (community) comprised of olim (immigrants) and sabras (native Israelis) who enjoy a comfortable middle to upper class lifestyle. Today, more than 100 children participate in ACFFC and with There,Shira Gilor, an inveterate community volunteer was that opportunity comes a guarantee that all their basic needs approached by a local mom who quietly asked if she by chance — food, clothing, clean water or medical care — will be met. In had any extra food for her children. Shira quickly put together addition to full scholarships for general education, classes in a food package, sent the mother on her way and began to think mosaics, photography, silk screening, papier mâché and more about all of the wasted food around her. Soon, bakeries, schools, are offered. The kids’ considerable talents have even brought www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 04 KIDS the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE attention from outside of Haiti with visits to Florida and the different communities throughout the country receive support Haitian Embassy in Washington. and a personal connection from mentors committed to their well-being. The scholarship funds that we offer allow additional children to participate in ACFFC’s programs thus gaining many more Weekly meetings between the “big” and the “littles” include opportunities to succeed in life. outings, help with homework, talking and just enjoying each other’s company. Sprinkled throughout the year, much-welcome Beit Hayeled ISR communal “Fun Days” where all the BBBS participants come Caring for Orphaned or At-Risk Children together have become bonding and empowering experiences, as has summer camp which our funds have allowed several kids to Yuval, now a social worker, is married with two children. enjoy. Liat served two years in National Service and is now entering her third year in college, studying to be a special education teacher. There have been so many success stories to emerge from this Shoshi, married and the mother of a two-year old, has completed work. Kids whose future looked bleak have gone on to become her teaching degree and now works as a special education productive adults, many maintaining their BBBS relationship for teacher with autistic children. years and years.

These three young people are among what will eventually Birthday Angels ISR be 17 children, rescued from dysfunctional homes and sent Birthday Parties for Needy Children in Israel to Beit Hayeled, a group home on Kibbutz Merav near Beit Shean. Despite having abusive parents declared by the courts Yom Huledet Sameach…Yom Huledet Sameach. For nearly one- incapable of maintaining a stable home, each has been blessed third of children in Israel, the familiar happy birthday refrain to become part of the warm and nurturing family created by and the fun that goes along with it is not so familiar — their Yitz Feigenbaum and Irit Zucker, founders of Beit Hayeled. families simply cannot afford to commemorate the occasion. (Several other children placed there were eventually returned to Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg, founder of Birthday Angels, their parents.) confronted this reality many years ago while volunteering in a poor Tel Aviv neighborhood. A young girl did not know her The children receive an abundance of love combined with a firm birth date. It had never been celebrated. A professional party- hand to guide them as they grow and try to overcome the serious planner, Ruthie created magical celebrations for wealthy clientele problems they developed while living at home. In addition to and years later began Birthday Angels to offer underprivileged attending school with the other children on the kibbutz, Beit children like this young girl that same special feeling. Hayeled kids receive everything else we would want for our own kids. One of the greatest expenses incurred, and one that With a creative “do-it-yourself” party kit and 5,000 volunteers we happily cover, is the ongoing psychological counseling that from an Israeli mentoring group, to date nearly 25,000 parties each child receives to resolve deep-rooted issues. Judging by the have been held with 4,500 last year alone. success of Beit Hayeled’s graduates we can only assume that the counseling combined with Yitz and Irit’s love was a more than Not satisfied with this significant accomplishment, Ruthie has worthwhile investment. created two new initiatives. Teen Angels is a service learning platform that empowers and trains volunteer teens-at-risk An added bonus — several Beit Hayeled grads have blessed Irit to lead birthday parties in their own communities. Forty and Yitz with nine “grandchildren,” with more on the way. groups have successfully facilitated 500 parties and developed leadership skills as well. On a more global level, Ruthie’s latest Big Brothers Big Sisters of Israel ISR endeavor, Change Angels or Design for Change, teaches kids how Mentoring Youth in Israel to make their vision for a better world a reality. We love this “I Can” spirit and have no doubt that she is helping to cultivate a Libby Reichman, a career social worker, knew full well the movement of change makers, already 3,000 strong. positive influence an adult role model could have in the life of a child from an isolated single parent home. In 2003 she organized Our funds have helped Ruthie strengthen each prong of her Big Brothers Big Sister of Israel (BBBS), to provide that special angelic program. mentorship to these vulnerable kids. Though now retired, Libby’s vision has grown so that today more than 400 kids from several www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 05 KIDS the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE *Breaking the Chain USA After returning to the US Gloria was determined to give these Through Education orphaned children a new truth. She began Change the Truth which guarantees the children food, clothing, medical care and, Rescuing Enslaved Children in Ghana of course, love. In addition the program also funds education costs with the ultimate goal of opening opportunities for higher It’s an unbelievable feeling that someone is free because of what you education. To date, 33 students have received scholarships for did. That’s thanks enough. secondary education, vocational training and university studies. Over the years, how many teachers have inspired us, perhaps With a full time social worker now living at the orphanage, a even encouraged us to pursue a different career path? computer lab, a community garden and additional enrichment When Evan Robbins started teaching almost 20 years ago, he opportunities, the children of St. Mary Kevin’s are thriving. no doubt hoped that he might one day be that teacher, but never Gloria recently described her work in this way: “Together we are did he imagine that he would literally save many young lives — helping children blossom — children who face incredible odds.” lives of young children sold by their parents into slavery to the We continue to invest in her work by underwriting programming fishermen working on Lake Volta in Ghana. that offers students supplemental tutoring, additional courses, motivational speakers and team-building exercises during school A New York Times article describing the life of one of these holidays. Gloria reports that these enhancements provide an Ghanaian children inspired Evan and set the stage for that invaluable boost to the students’ education — a truth we like to perfect teaching moment. He introduced his social studies hear. students to this human rights atrocity. Determined to do something from afar, they held fundraisers and directed all their proceeds to help the enslaved children of Ghana. *Creating Connected USA Communities From that initial class effort emerged the larger non-profit, Developing Young Leaders Through Outreach Breaking the Chain Through Education (BTCTE), an organization whose goal it is to rescue children from slavery. Under Evan’s When 12 year old Amy Sacks learned that a nearby homeless watch and regular on-site visits, more than 40 young children in shelter had been robbed of all of the holiday presents collected Ghana once destined for a life of servitude have been rescued, for residents she was outraged. How could someone steal rehabilitated, attend school and can dream of a more promising presents intended for kids living in a shelter? With some of her future. Well over 200 children attend a newly built school as part allowance and other contributions she delivered funds to the of an exchange that BTCTE orchestrated upon agreement that shelter to help them replace the stolen toys. The next year, for no local children would be sold into slavery. From the moment her Bat Mitzvah, Amy actually staged her own holiday party we first sat with Evan, felt his boundless compassion and saw the for 25 children, complete with gifts and more. Now an adult, captivating images of the children he has saved, we knew this wife and mother, Amy’s Party continues as an integral part of was a winning program. With our funds to enhance BTCTE’s logo Creating Connected Communities (CCC). and website we only hope that this young program continues to gain the traction it deserves. With compassion clearly part of her DNA, Amy (now Amy Sacks Zeide) began CCC to provide leadership training for Change the Truth USA Atlanta’s teens through their interaction with vulnerable Providing Opportunities for Children in Uganda children receiving services from local agencies. This much sought after program mentors 30-40 teens each year by raising their A country devastated by civil war, disease and extreme understanding of homelessness through hands-on activities at poverty, where millions of children have been orphaned and local shelters and by teaching them important advocacy skills. abandoned — sometimes hearing the truth is difficult. And it is even harder to witness firsthand.G loria Baker Feinstein, CCC hosts many events for disadvantaged youth throughout founder of Change the Truth, is an accomplished photographer the year, including the signature event every December, Amy’s and a committed agent of social service who channeled these Holiday Party. Our grant underwrote the expansion of some of dual passions when she visited Uganda in 2006 as part of a these programs. photography workshop. There her camera captured haunting images of the 180 children of the St. Mary Kevin’s Children Home; ultimately these 180 faces captured her heart as well. On Twitter: @goodpeoplefund

www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 06 the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE

Jack the Bike Man USA As demand increases for Kaima’s program and products, our Creative Support Of At-Risk Migrant Children grant has allowed Yoni to develop additional land for the farm. In less than two years Yoni and those who work with him have If someone would have told Jack Hairston years ago that a bike accomplished far more than we would have expected. accident on his front lawn (and his aptitude for fixing the faulty brakes responsible for the mishap) would have changed his life *Leveling the Playing Field uSA trajectory forever, he may have stared in disbelief. But, this is Sports for Everyone exactly what happened to Jack who turned an accident into an opportunity — an opportunity to improve lives of children and If they don’t have the equipment, which their parents can’t afford, families in his mostly migrant neighborhood of Palm Beach they will be out on the street or playing video games. County, FL through a bicycle repair program and now much more. Like most kids, Max Levitt gravitated towards sports while growing up. From a very young age when he could physically Not only are the at-risk children of migrant workers taught throw any object, he would toss and pitch whatever was how to repair and maintain bikes but volunteers and counselors available. In fact, sports were such an important part of his life also provide language instruction, social conduct guidance, that he eventually majored in Sports Management at Syracuse emotional support and mentoring. With these tools in hand the University, and became the Equipment Manager for the football kids gain self-esteem, adopt good values and become productive, team, an experience that showed Max just how much used and responsible members of society. More than the thousands of excess equipment accumulated in college sports programs (as refurbished bikes that he has given away, Jack and his team have well as in the basements and garages of most of our homes). given a generation of children hope for a brighter future. Our funds this past year helped Jack meet a matching grant Knowing that so many kids could not participate in sports challenge so hopefully this one-stop bike repair social-service because of the high cost of equipment, Max began Leveling the shop can remain in operation for a long time to come. Playing Field which collects donations of sports equipment from collegiate athletic departments, recreation departments, and Kaima ISR private donors and dispenses it to kids who would not otherwise Organic Farming as Alternative Education experience the many benefits of sports activities. With studies consistently showing that participation in sports may bring Alon was a depressed, drug addicted teen whose demons have higher grades, improved school attendance, better health and a kept him from school for the past two years. When a friend stronger sense of belonging and connection, Max’s work takes recommended he check out Kaima Organic Farm he was initially on even greater significance. suspicious and visited infrequently. But, after six months Alon began to thrive. He now spends four days each week at the Max’s passion for his work was apparent when we first met farm engaging in all kinds of work. He no longer uses drugs and him. Seemingly undaunted by the challenges of running a non- attends night classes to complete his education. Today, Alon profit we offered Max a matching grant which he thoughtfully is confident, curious and trusting of other adults and he even and successfully met. This year alone, more than 5,000 items volunteers to guide visitors around Kaima’s fields. have been donated, impacting 11,697 kids and saving tens of thousands of dollars for recreation programs across numerous Alon’s success was exactly the result that we anticipated when we states and even in Israel. first metYoni Yefet Reich, one of Kaima’s idealistic founders. Two years ago Kaima was nothing but barren and rocky fields. Reading Village USA Just as Alon’s transformation seemed to happen almost Promoting Literacy Among Children in Rural Guatemala overnight, so too did Yoni’s dream of Kaima. At this year’s visit we saw a lush and fertile two-acre organic farm growing fresh They say it takes a village to raise a child, but what does it take produce for 150 families based on a community-supported to raise a village out from illiteracy, poverty and hopelessness? agriculture (CSA) model. However, this CSA has a distinct Linda Smith, was a hard-working professional and tireless underlying mission: to provide kids who have dropped out of volunteer whose previous efforts spanned locations throughout school with an alternative learning environment which offers an the US to as far as rural Guatemala where she witnessed so income, employable skills, leadership training and perhaps most many people living on the periphery. It was the remote villages importantly, a community. of Guatemala — where the majority live below the poverty line, where the literacy rate is the lowest in the Western Hemisphere www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 07 KIDS the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE and where kids cannot even begin to dream of a future — that Shutaf ISR ultimately attracted her attention and inspired Reading Village. Redefining Inclusion and Community for Kids in Jerusalem

Reading Village has a singular and powerful purpose: to You had to see it to believe it. The room filled with unbridled transform lives through literacy. The program leverages reading laughter, smiles and spirit as kids of all ages, sizes and abilities as a tool to help youth achieve their full potential. Where books danced their most zany Zumba moves. Nearby, other activities are inaccessible, libraries are scarce and school systems are sub- occupied busy hands and inquisitive minds. Some chose a standard the challenge is immense, and yet, Reading Village creative craft project, putting their personal touch on squares has made major strides through innovative approaches that that would ultimately connect to become a communal quilt. have a significant ripple effect. As part of the Leaders & Readers Others kept busy enjoying the company of the animal visitors. program Mayan teenagers receive scholarships, mentoring and These images from our February visit to Shutaf remain vivid. leadership training, enabling them to complete high school. In It was the type of day that Miriam Avraham and Beth return, they volunteer as “reading promoters”, running several Steinberg, two Jerusalem moms, each with a special needs weekly reading circles for the young children in their villages. child, would only have dreamed about before they began Shutaf What began six years ago with just six reading promoters in one in 2007 out of their frustration that no meaningful summer single village has grown exponentially so that today 78 teen or after school opportunities existed for their own children. mentors in four villages reach more than 4,500 children who Refusing to bemoan the lack of quality programs, they decided to now not only read but also dream of a brighter future. spearhead their own.

Our funds underwrote an additional Community Coordinator to What began as a summer opportunity with just 10 children train and mentor teens in new villages. has evolved today to Shutaf, a year-round informal education program that provides summer camp, holiday camp and after- * S.A.H.I. ISR school activities based on an inclusive model that encourages Empowering Troubled Youth Through Compassion and Giving diversity and welcomes children with and without disabilities from across the religious and economic spectrum. Shutaf Ilan admits, “I was hanging around with people I shouldn’t have teaches children and teens important lessons of acceptance, been around.” Before long he stole his brother’s car, despite not tolerance and celebrating differences. having a license, and crashed the vehicle. At age 16 Ilan joined S.A.H.I. and soon became engaged in its activities, arriving This past year our funds, which came in part as a matching grant, regularly and taking initiative. He’s completed a young leader’s subsidized camp expenses, provided scholarships and enabled course and recently participated in a project to renovate houses Shutaf to maintain administrative help needed to manage this for needy people in his neighborhood. He finished his court quality enterprise. mandated community service and has maintained a clean record ever since joining. The Quincy Kids USA Students Helping Kids Around the World For Avraham Hayon and Oded Weiss and Anat Birnboim, Ilan’s outcome was exactly what they hoped for when they began Children really can change the world. The “Quincy Kids” are S.A.H.I., The Special Grace Unit, which today serves more than living proof. Dedicated to ending the abuses and suffering of 300 disenfranchised youth. These three visionaries view giving children worldwide, this after-school club of ever-changing and compassion as a pathway to greater self-confidence and students, part of Operation Days Work, has been active for 15 awareness of one’s value to the community. By conducting all years under the guidance of Ron Adams, a teacher at Broad activities in secret without the need to be recognized or thanked, Meadows Middle School in Quincy, MA. S.A.H.I. participants or “ambassadors of good will” practice the highest form of altruism, an experience correlated with long- As with so many of our Good People, their story began with lasting positive impact. That altruism translates into concrete another inspiring story. Iqbal Masih, a young Pakistani child who achievements such as the distribution of nearly 20,000 food had been sold by his parents to a carpet manufacturer for a $12 packages and other acts of kindness. debt, spent long hours chained to a loom, tying tiny knots in the back of woven carpets. Having escaped from bonded labor, Our grant underwrote translation of a study analyzing the Iqbal traveled to the United States to receive an award for his impact of S.A.H.I. as well as the partial cost of a Unit leader for activism from Reebok and spoke at Broad Meadows. Students Southern Israel programs. were inspired by the youthful crusader’s message about ending child slavery, and when they learned a few months later that www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 08 WOMEN the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE he had been murdered upon returning home, they vowed to do something meaningful to honor his work. WOMENS’ EMPOWERMENT We happily underwrite the cost of traditional “overhead” for this band of activists — postage stamps and a generous order of stationery supplies from Staples seem to do the trick. With Female Hebrew USA these tools in hand members of the after-school club annually Benevolent Society conduct research and then vote on a country and a project to Reaching Out to Jewish Women in Crisis support. This year they partnered with Good Weave-India, an organization dedicated to ending child labor in the rug industry. When we think of the word benevolent, so many wonderful attributes come to mind: compassionate, kind-hearted, altruistic As part of a team of seven schools in three states, students ran and humanitarian to name a few. This word aptly describes penny drives, car washes and hot chocolate sales and beautified all of our Good People but suits Eileen Sklaroff, dedicated public spaces. They raised $10,000 for GoodWeave’s efforts leader of Female Hebrew Benevolent Society (FHBS) for more to help vulnerable children and yet again showed us all that than two decades, particularly well. Eileen, together with a anything is possible. board of 12 other co-managers, has carried on a legacy that began 195 years ago by a group of women from Congregation * Tzimaon ISR Mikveh Israel to address the needs of poor Jewish women in Creating a More Equal Society in Israel through Education Philadelphia. The longest ongoing Jewish charitable organization in the United States, this all-volunteer operation mobilizes Pasta and ketchup? Not exactly the definition of a nutritious quickly, often within 24 hours of a referral, to serve as a safety meal. For the young African refugee children in Israel who net for hundreds of women in financial crisis. With a focus attend one of the dozens of “gans” or daycare centers (there are on emergency aid, support systems for frail elderly women, more than 60 of them) set up throughout south Tel Aviv, that is prescription drug stipends and camp scholarships for families exactly what they eat each day. without means, FHBS shows time and time again with each grant, including ours, just how readily a small sum of money can This past February, while winding down our Israel trip we met improve quality of life. a group whose efforts reinforced our belief that compassionate people working together towards a common mission can Get Jewish Divorce Justice uSA change the world. Several years ago Shlomo Artzi and his Preventing Abuse in the Jewish Divorce Process wife Michal gathered friends and began Tzimaon to address the Through Education and Advocacy growing economic disparity so pervasive in Israeli society. Originally a practicing New York attorney, Esther Macner With a staff of 10 volunteers, no offices and no salaries, Tzimaon moved to Los Angeles a few years ago and set out to improve focuses on educational opportunities in less advantaged areas Jewish divorce practices there. like Givat Olga and the Shapira neighborhood in Tel Aviv. In our meeting we learned of the group’s latest project, the With the help of our matching grant challenge, much has already brainchild of Carmit Elad, a Tzimaon volunteer. When Carmit been accomplished in the two short years since she began Get visited many of Tel Aviv’s refugee daycare centers and saw the Jewish Divorce Justice (GJDJ), the only West Coast based poor conditions she knew she needed to do something. With the organization aimed at doing exactly what its name suggests cooperation of “Daniela’s Gan”, she brought together both Israeli — eliminating abuse in the Jewish divorce process through and African volunteers to turn this dark and sad classroom education, advocacy and counseling. Esther’s work focuses on into a magical place with bright paint, new carpet, furniture, the traditional document that terminates a Jewish marriage, computers, toys and more. the get, given by the husband and received on consent of the wife, and often used as a bargaining chip to wield unfair The pasta and ketchup diet inspired us to offer a matching grant custodial or financial terms. Scores of women known as agunot to fund one year’s worth of nutritious lunches for the children remain chained to dead marriages and cannot remarry Jewishly in Daniela’s Gan. Those formerly “white plates” filled with rice as a result. GJDJ serves as a liaison between rabbinic courts or pasta are now “green” and the “circle of vegetable eaters” is and attorneys to intervene on behalf of current victims and getting bigger every day. to prevent future victims through educational programs and promoting the use of Jewish prenuptial agreements.

www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 09 WOMEN the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE Perhaps the group’s greatest accomplishment, achieved with Unchained At Last USA Esther’s persuasive brief to the Beth Din of America (a court Support for Women Leaving Arranged Marriages of Jewish law), was the adoption of a revised and simplified California prenuptial agreement that has positive implications At the age of 19, Fraidy Reiss’s parents married her off to a for all states in the US. GJDJ has also mobilized congregational man she barely knew, a custom that still exists in some cultures rabbis to demand changes in local rabbinic court practices, right here in the US, including the traditional Orthodox Jewish drafted a curriculum for high school students, and formed community where Fraidy grew up. For 12 years Fraidy suffered an agunah task force to serve as a community watch in every through a loveless and abusive marriage. Trapped by religious synagogue across Los Angeles. laws that allowed her husband to divorce her but not the reverse, with no friends or family to support her, somehow she found With even more advocacy efforts on the horizon, GJDJ is paving the inner strength to reinvent herself. She enrolled in school, a new and more equitable path. pursued a career in journalism, and eventually secured a secular divorce allowing her to go on as a “free” single mother of two New Orleans Women’s Shelter uSA daughters. Most women, however, cannot escape without help. A Warm Home for Homeless Women and Families For them, she founded Unchained At Last in 2012, the only non- profit in the US dedicated to helping women of all cultures leave Janelle Jones, a struggling single parent of two children, resided arranged and forced marriages and rebuild their lives. with her mom when the foreclosure notice came. Fearful that homelessness would devastate her kids, Janelle contemplated Unchained provides women with pro bono legal representation turning them over to the state until she learned about the New to navigate the justice system, social services to guide them Orleans Women’s Shelter (NOWS). NOWS’ case management towards stability and finally, a mentor to support them through and counseling which we help underwrite, put Janelle back on the often traumatic divorce process. Unchained also raises track to the point where she is once again self-sufficient, residing awareness about forced marriages and advocates for legislative in permanent housing and gainfully employed in a full time reform to protect women. position with a pending job promotion. In only two years Unchained has helped 80 women and has This second chance is just the kind we envisioned when we first successfully recruited more than 100 volunteer attorneys, met Jackie Silverman, founder of NOWS, a program that offers psychotherapists and others professionals who generously offer transitional housing, job support and more to women caught their services. in the cycle of homelessness in New Orleans. With Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of life and property surrounding her, Our funding has boosted these successes by underwriting the Jackie soon put aside her own medical issues and began to help costs of expert witnesses as well as a part-time social worker, others. When a local shelter was forced to close due to lack of both of which have enhanced the organization’s effectiveness. funding, Jackie and her husband Dan teamed with others to give the shelter a second chance. They rescued it and transformed it Yotsrot—Turning the Tables ISR into the present warm home that we know today. Training and Empowerment of Women Exiting the Cycle of Prostitution To date, more than 650 women and children have found a safe haven in NOWS, and the majority have achieved independence I came to Turning the Tables about a year ago. At first it wasn’t as a result — that’s a 75% success rate made possible by a easy. I felt empty. But now, after a year I see a huge change. I see combination of effective case management, counseling, parent possibilities everywhere and I just need to choose which doors I want education, employment coaching and affordable housing to open. assistance. Nurit is one of 31 women who have found a path out of

prostitution because of the vision of Lilach Tzur Ben Moshe. Nurit spends her days designing, sewing and selling clothes, For new Good People stories, go to: relishing her new talent and sense of self-esteem. The door now www.goodpeoplefund.org/ opened for Nurit is a door that Lilach hoped to open for many tzedakah-diaries women when she launched Yotsrot in 2011. An online fashion editor, a volunteer in a rape crisis center and a devout feminist, Lilach found her calling as she left her home in one of Tel Aviv’s www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 10 HEALING the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE less desirable neighborhoods each day and passed women who, INTRA-Israel National ISR like Nurit, knew no other alternative to a life on the streets. Therapeutic Riding Association Lilach felt compelled to do something to change this destiny and Therapeutic Horseback Riding for People with Disabilities empower these women with an alternative life course. Cats and dogs are cute — it is easy to understand how these In April 2013, Lilach opened a multidimensional design studio loveable creatures could be used in therapeutic settings to in Tel Aviv to offer these women vocational training in all bond with humans. Horses, however, are giant creatures in aspects of the fashion industry. The results are impressive. Of comparison; certainly by virtue of their size not something to the 31 women who have participated in the program to date, cuddle or pet. In Israel today, Anita and Giora Shkedi, founders 13 have developed the skills to design, produce and sell items of the Israel National Therapeutic Riding Association, stand on consistently, and all of them have either reduced their time in the forefront of the therapeutic riding movement in that country prostitution or left the trade altogether. To further enhance and beyond. The horse’s stride most closely approximates that the organization’s success we funded marketing and branding of a human being. If you put someone who is disabled atop a expertise as well as a professional seamstress position for horse, those very movements will stimulate muscles and nerves Yotsrot’s latest workshop. normally unaffected by traditional therapy. It is a logical yet miraculous outcome. ALTERNATIVE HEALING Now located in a forested bucolic area near the city of Ra’anana, OF BODY AND MIND INTRA continues to promote this unique therapy with adults and children disabled by a wide range of conditions. Once again, HAMA Israel- ISR we have focused on Anita’s groundbreaking work with soldiers suffering from PTSD and TBI (traumatic brain injury). Our funds Humans and Animals have allowed her to rehabilitate several soldiers left scarred with in Mutual Assistance deep emotional wounds from the country’s many wars. Some Animal-Assisted Therapy have been able to resume a life of relative normalcy after many visits to INTRA. In fact, Anita’s expertise in this area has earned Some may remember a Robert Redford movie from years ago, her several invitations to present her research here in America as “The Horse Whisperer”, which featured a character with a unique well as world-wide. For soldiers like Zeev or Zachi or even Yossi connection to horses and horse training. So it is with Avshalom who proudly proclaims, “I’m back!” INTRA’s special work has no Beni, founder of HAMA Israel-Humans and Animals in Mutual doubt changed their world. Assistance. For Avshalom the connection is with the many dogs and cats he uses in his unique and effective animal-assisted Lev Leytzan~Heart of A Clown uSA therapy (AAT) program. Clowning as a Therapeutic Tool

Many of his animal “therapists” are themselves broken, The caller told us: Grandpa hasn’t spoken in years … I’m not really victims of animal abuse or neglect. The beneficiaries of his sure what you can do, but someone told me that ElderHearts™ works special program include humans also similarly broken: Shoah with people like him. survivors, children who have been abused, kids-at-risk, children with ADHD, kids and families from the South who have been Calls like the one above are not unusual for Dr. Neal Goldberg, traumatized by wars and ongoing rocket attacks. founder of Lev Leytzan (Heart of the Clown), a unique medical clowning group that proves how laughter can heal both the The therapeutic benefits of AAT are well-documented; to watch body and the mind. Prospective clowns must undergo a rigorous Avshalom, a true master of this technique, is a fascinating training program conducted by both doctors and professional experience. Using his menagerie, Avshalom has discovered a clowns before they eventually engage with individuals in nursing unique approach to the origin of the pain and suffering within homes, hospitals and senior centers. Thousands of people both each of his clients and eventually makes them whole again. here in the US and elsewhere have benefited from their special As in the past, a significant portion of our donation has been talents. used for an urban spay-neuter program made possible by a generous donor. In addition, this year’s grant included the With the addition of some professional clowns (who are purchase of a much-needed new van underwritten by a group of remunerated for their work), Lev Leytzan has introduced dedicated supporters of HAMA’s work. ElderHearts™, a distinctive program directed specifically to www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 11 HEALING the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Clowns spend hours Shelter Music Boston USA learning about the unique ways the human brain functions Feeding the Souls of Boston’s Homeless Shelter Residents in people with these conditions and apply this specialized knowledge to their interactions. Dressed in vintage clothing and One of the most wonderful things about the concerts is that the using period props the clowns evoke long-forgotten memories moms and the children sit together and cuddle while they listen. Or and help dissolve feelings of loss and isolation — a significant a mom holds the tiny hands of her dancing toddler as they both move response when little else alleviates the suffering of afflicted to the beat of Mozart. Moms and kids are interacting in ways that we patients and their families. Our funding has made ElderHearts™ don’t typically see them doing here. … It’s amazing to see this happen! visits possible in both institutions and even private homes. What better testimonial could describe the impact of Shelter Music & Memory USA Music Boston (SMB)? Organized in 2010 by Julie Leven and Bringing Personalized Music to Elders others, SMB offers monthly classical chamber music concerts, through Digital Technology performed by highly skilled professional musicians in seven Boston-area shelters. Could it be that one day in the not-so-distant-future, just as we compose a will to direct our family on the disposition of our On a warm spring evening this past June we visited one of earthly possessions, we also create a “playlist” of our favorite these shelters and enjoyed a concert unlike any we have ever music to be downloaded to an iPod should we develop dementia experienced. Though the atmosphere did not quite match that of or Alzheimer’s? Boston’s Symphony Hall, shelter residents were clearly engaged. Between sets, musicians and residents exchanged comments As revolutionary as this scenario might seem it is a distinct about the composers, the music, even the particular instruments possibility as social worker Dan Cohen’s innovative work, being played. Post-concert, a lively discussion about music embodied in Music and Memory (M&M), gains worldwide ensued outside the shelter. Despite the surroundings, and the attention. M&M brings personalized music via iPods to elderly tensions and anguish that accompany homelessness, residents individuals, most suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, living experienced some normalcy and compassion. both at home or in institutional settings. The music taps deep memories and enables the listener to reconnect to the world, As Julie mentions in a short video, “Everyone needs art and often with dramatic results. Neuroscience research actually music to feel human, to connect with other human beings, to corroborates Dan’s thesis. The benefits are enormous. Here are feel alive!” We completely agree, and our matching grant allowed but a few — patients interact with those around them; doctors two new shelters to join SMB’s monthly concert series. report a reduction in morphine drips; physical therapists observe that the music gets people moving body parts that were *Tunefoolery USA formerly inactive; caregivers themselves feel less stressed and Music as a Pathway to Healing more confident. As Tunefoolery musicians, we have learned that we can re-connect Doctors admit that there is no imminent cure for these with our dreams, overcome obstacles, access our potential, and be frightening conditions but at best, quality of life can be productive, creative members of society. improved through effective programs like M&M. Dan’s work is fueling major changes world-wide as more and more facilities Tunefoolery is a small Boston-based organization that we were adopt the program and train staff in the simple steps of how to privileged to discover during a trip to that city last June. Though facilitate it. the name might evoke something silly or frivolous Tunefoolery is anything but that. This serious program offers over 50 unique Our funds were directed to both administrative support as M&M and courageous musicians with psychiatric conditions the expands to keep up with the enormous demand for its work, opportunity to play and perform music as a path towards healing and a pilot research project to help nursing homes resolve any and recovery. As we sat with two of the original four founders, problems they encounter while instituting the program. Theresa Thompson, a musician and therapist, and Mark Irwin, we learned that Tunefoolery actually began 20 years ago “The expertise, advice and connections that at the Cambridge/Somerville Social Club, a drop-in center for the Good People Fund gave us were much adults with psychiatric disabilities. more valuable than the dollars.”

www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 12 POVERTY the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE All too often defined by their mental disabilities, the Family, did just that in 2002 when a New York Times exposé on musicians who perform with Tunefoolery aspire to define rural poverty described dire conditions in Pembroke, IL, just themselves instead by their musical abilities. Their professional one hour outside of Chicago. It was that story that inspired Pam performances offer a wide range of music from folk and classical, to begin Family-to-Family and address this often hidden and to blues and rock and beyond. Audiences include other mental intractable problem, one family at a time. health or social service agency clients with limited access to the performing arts, school groups, as well as the general public. In Family-to-Family’s unique approach eases hunger and poverty addition, they have developed a unique curriculum that explains by connecting families with sufficient means to families with mental illness and is presented at schools and conferences. profoundly less. Beyond the signature Sponsor a Family program through which sponsor families ship a box of food or donate While the music itself brings joy and inspiration to those who monthly to provide groceries and other essentials to their hear it, the greater message Tunefoolery conveys is that people “adoptive” family, Pam has added a constellation of hands- with psychiatric disabilities can still be creative, talented and on personal giving opportunities designed to alleviate the productive members of society. Our funding, part of an ongoing symptoms of poverty, encourage people to “share their bounty”, grant, was directed towards the group’s sustainability. forge friendships and teach empathy and caring. The Doorknob Dinner Project enlists volunteers (a.k.a. Dinner Donors) to shop monthly for specific groceries so a family of five can cook a full POVERTY meal. A similar program, Shower to the People, supplies families in need with costly but essential personal hygiene products. Down the Block USA Helping Neighbors Overcome Sudden Financial Problems Only a visit to Pam’s web site could effectively describe the scope of the creative programs this compassionate visionary has Wendi Weill began Down the Block in 2009 when our economy developed to address the needs of our country’s most vulnerable was in free-fall. Five years have passed but there are residents citizens. Our funding has made it possible for her to bring on who still struggle to make a utility payment or provide adequate some much-needed administrative support to manage it all. medical care for their family. Down the Block enables concerned neighbors to help neighbors in need regain solid footing to Fund for Needy Immigrants ISR move forward with their lives in the face of unforeseen financial Education, Social Support and Financial Aid setbacks. for New Immigrants

Since its beginning, Down the Block has quietly, and always with Once a dusty desert outpost, Beersheva in southern Israel is respect for the applicant’s dignity, disbursed nearly $250,000 home to many olim (immigrants) who arrive in Israel to start towards emergency needs of residents deemed eligible through a new life. They come from as nearby as Tunis and Yemen and a stringent two-limit application process. No one likes to think as far away as Cuba, Russia, China and South America. Some “they could be next” but what a comfort for the community to assimilate quickly while others languish unable to learn a new know that Down the Block exists as a caring and compassionate language or find meaningful employment. Some may be at- resource. We are hopeful that as more communities learn of its risk single mothers while others are elderly, chronically ill or success, they will adopt it as a model for how more fortunate disabled. neighbors can extend a hand to neighbors in need. Maya Englert could only imagine how difficult this immigrant From time to time we learn of a compelling case from Down the life must be after she moved as a young bride from Haifa to Block where our funds, combined with theirs, can have an even Beersheva and had trouble acclimating herself, not to a new greater impact. Such was the case this past year when we covered country but a new city. In 1991, an empathetic Maya and expenses for the family of a mother battling serious illness. several others founded The Fund for Needy Immigrants (FFNI), to provide these disadvantaged olim with educational, social, Family-to-Family USA psychological and financial aid when the government fails to do Providing Hunger Relief and More to Profoundly Poor so. At a weekly meeting of its leaders (including representatives American Families from the same cultures that have settled there) FFNI evaluates requests from local social workers with a particular emphasis Have you ever read a news article that upset you so much that on children and teens of needy immigrants. Support comes in you felt compelled to act? Pam Koner, founder of Family-to- the form of food vouchers and packages, hot meals for hungry www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 13 POVERTY the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE school children, medical devices, eye glasses, computers, heaters, newborn baby clothes and many other items. FFNI also runs GPM is a Jewish response to global poverty. By providing 1,000 innovative programs to bridge the academic divide and to kids in class with a daily hot meal (an astounding 300,000 maximize each child’s ability to reach his or her full potential. meals) GPM gives parents an incentive to keep their kids in We directed our funds towards numerous holiday food packages school, rather than begging on the streets, ensuring that they and partial college tuition for a trained Tunisian teacher will get both nutrition and an education. We know the program studying to earn her Israeli credentials. is working — it has increased school attendance by 50 percent and by all accounts the children are thriving. This could well be a Gabriel Project Mumbai uSA path out of poverty for so many. Poverty, Hunger and Education in the Mumbai Slums The Jewish volunteer component offers young adults from More than half of Mumbai’s population now lives in its slums. This around the world, 41 to date, an eight week hands-on service startling reality explains why Jacob Sztokman’s program, experience that further enhances GPM’s goals. Gabriel Project Mumbai (GPM), has made such a difference. It offers a glimmer of hope in a place where despair prevails. Our grant this year translated to yet another “win” for GPM. In addition to underwriting the cost of meals, we provided funds Jacob first connected to Mumbai during business trips to the so that 140 local women, paid to cook these hot meals, had the city. The extraordinary poverty, children begging in the streets, requisite equipment to prepare the food in a central kitchen. and sheer desperation he witnessed became his call to action. Today, they have a micro-enterprise, furnishing lunches as well Jacob believed he could bring hope to the children by feeding as catering other events. both their minds and their stomachs and after extensive research identified an Indian NGO partner to begin GPM in 2012.

Kentucky USA Reaching Out To An Impoverished Community in Appalachia

We are not fixing people. We fix “things.” We connect with people. And bachelor’s degree), median household income, unemployment we connected with each other. rate, disability rate, life expectancy and obesity. For the travelers who make this annual trip the Times’ evaluation is no surprise. This comment came to us from one of this past year’s Life for the residents of McRoberts is difficult. What the article participants in what has become an annual trip to McRoberts, does not communicate, however, is the warmth, the humanity, a tiny community nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of the spirit and the fortitude of the residents who despite all else eastern Kentucky. Over the past four years, congregants from are just Good People. both Congregation Shaarai Shomayim in Lancaster, PA and Congregation B’nai Israel in Millburn, NJ have traveled there With the assistance of our friends Susie and Everett Duncan, to help restore homes, deliver food, organize a day camp and locals who watch over their neighbors and offer help when more. But ultimately, what has transpired is the forging of a new needed, we have impacted families by making home repairs, community of what were once strangers but now good friends. delivering a trailer load of food with each visit and also underwriting a monthly purchase of food that is distributed A recent New York Times article entitled “Where are the Hardest to ten families identified as in need. As one veteran traveler Places to Live in the U.S.?” included a list of the ten most difficult recently wrote, “we paint walls...but we repair hearts as well… locations, and not surprisingly, six of the ten were located in our own as well as those we connect with.” It is this type of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky. The study sentiment that brings everyone back, year after year. evaluated education (percentage of residents with at least a

www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 14 Keren Segulat Naomi ISR or household items, is facilitated with a deeply personal and The Rabbanit Kapach-A One-Woman Social Service Agency compassionate focus and brings hope and dignity to people so often overlooked. “Extraordinary”…a word used perhaps too often. Defined as remarkable, exceptional, amazing, astonishing, astounding, Fran works on a shoe-string budget with low administrative incredible, unbelievable, phenomenal — extraordinary should be costs and (mostly) gifts-in-kind. Our grant provided up-to-date reserved for that rare something or someone we come upon but computers and software, other technology, as well as tables and only a few times in life. chairs for her donated warehouse space. Additional funds were directed to emergency client needs as they arose. The lateR abbanit Bracha Kapach, z’l, was one such extraordinary person and during this past year she died at *One Can Help USA the age of 90. We have worked with her for decades and know Supporting Court-Involved Families in Boston that she has left behind an unsurpassed legacy of mitzvahs and gemilut chassidim (acts of kindness) almost too complex to What happens when a mother finally leaves an abusive marriage describe. The legendary Pesach food packages distributed to and becomes her child’s only source of support? With a job in thousands of people each Spring; brides too poor to have their hand she will finally have the chance to leave the shelter where own wedding gown could always count on the Rabbanit’s “bridal they live. But, she faces a major barrier — the cost of childcare so salon”; her camp for kids who would otherwise have no summer that she can actually go to work. The time it would take to apply fun; school supplies, clothing, weekly Shabbat food; words of to local agencies for this help could cost her the job opportunity. wisdom for those lost and distraught…the list was endless. Far too often Anne Bader-Martin, an attorney working in In her memory the Rabbanit’s family continues some of her Boston’s family court system, watched similar scenarios play out work. Our donation was directed to the Pesach food packages as her clients fell further into despair because a simple need could which are now assembled and distributed without her physical not be fulfilled by any local social service providers. Anne and presence. Somehow, though, we suspect she might just be others started One Can Help in 2005 to address this systemic watching it all from some higher place and smiling. void.

*Mitzvah Circle Foundation uSA Children and families who land in the juvenile court system are Providing For People Walking Along Life’s Edge fragile and have few resources. Attorneys, social workers and judges often feel frustrated by their inability to solve simple What I find stunning is that we live in a country where individuals, problems that might improve clients’ lives. It could be a bed families, schools and sometimes entire communities are in desperate for a child taken in by his grandparents but with only a floor need of items that most people consider basic. …It is heartbreaking. to sleep on, or a computer for a disenfranchised teen so he can keep up at school. When local agencies cannot respond One It was a chance visit to her local supermarket back in 1999 that Can Help can and does quickly and directly. With our matching led Fran Held into a world she never imagined. While in the grant this otherwise all-volunteer group has added a part- bakery department she watched the manager discard a perfectly time administrator to interact with the court’s social workers, beautiful sheet cake because of a crack in the icing. With so many enabling the organization to serve even more people. hungry people nearby Fran was astounded when the manager admitted that he routinely tossed leftovers each day. Troubled, Sunday Friends USA Fran asked if the store would donate those leftovers if volunteers The Working Alternative to Charity came to retrieve them. With that agreement in place, daily pick- ups and deliveries to local shelters and pantries were arranged. Before Sunday Friends, I didn’t have toilet paper because I had to pay rent… It was difficult…Now, thanks to the program, I have toilet Today’s Mitzvah Circle Foundation evolved from those earliest paper and soap…and shampoo and, most important of all, diapers, days of food rescue. Fran’s passion for helping people living “on wipes and lotion for my baby. the edge” includes additional programs only possible because of the large pool of community volunteers who pitch in to Janis Baron often sends notes like this from participants in help. Each project, whether providing support to individuals Sunday Friends, a program that serves low-income immigrant during times of crisis, poverty, homelessness and serious illness families in San Jose, California, empowering them to break the or fulfilling the need for school supplies, clothing, diapers intergenerational cycle of poverty. Prior to attending Sunday www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 15 POVERTY Friends, most attendees feel isolated and lack insight about generation of independent Ethiopians, thus breaking the cycle parenting, child development, nutrition, and finances. Sunday of poverty. Friends reverses this outlook. Efficient, compassionate and operating with overhead of Janis developed this model nearly 17 years ago, when looking less than 1.5 percent, FPF continues to be a wise tzedakah to sensitize her own children, she arranged weekly visits to investment. Our funds this year underwrote emergency a nearby shelter. The dynamic that evolved as her children expenses and scholarships and also enabled FPF to continue and shelter residents interacted eventually became the model its popular Swim-Safe project. One of the year’s highlights was for Sunday Friends. Today, three schools serve as host sites the visit we facilitated between FPF and the Lev Leytzan clown as children and their parents welcome the opportunity to troupe headed by Dr. Neal Goldberg. The troupe brought collaborate with volunteers in a variety of giving-back activities. holiday cheer and a lot of Hanukkah presents to Israeli kids who These “earning opportunities” along with academic and life might otherwise not celebrate. skills training instill positive benefits for everyone. From the moment the doors swing open on Sunday at noon until the The Redistribution Center uSA day culminates with a shopping spree in the on-site store, also Rescuing New Merchandise to Help People in Need known as the Treasure Chest, lives are improved for the better. What would you do if you found hundreds of pairs of brand new With our help, four years ago Janis added a Rent Relief program, shoes tossed for no good reason in a dumpster? Would you turn which relies on a parallel credit system. Participants earn up a blind eye? Or would you spend the next 23 years of your life to $200 credit payable directly to their landlord, freeing up on a rescue mission to save this excess and waste and turn it funds for other necessities. This past cycle, our grant enabled into something positive? Ranya Kelly, founder of the Denver- 45 families to earn these credits. Janis reports that this is now based Redistribution Center did the latter. That is why, year after their most popular program. year, she continues to be one of the Good People we herald as an example. The Forgotten People Fund ISR Helping Ethiopian Families One by One Her story is inspiring. We are a throwaway nation, and no one could dispute that if they saw what Ranya and her volunteers Operation Moses in 1984, Operation Solomon in 1991— both retrieve daily. Perfectly good new merchandise — clothing, food, were dramatic airlifts that brought thousands of Ethiopian housewares, linens, furniture, electronics, office supplies, books Jews to Israel. Ultimately, more than 160,000 Ethiopian olim and more — from some of our country’s largest retailers and (immigrants) arrived in Israel. Their absorption into Israeli manufacturers arrives at her modest warehouse and is quickly society has been fraught with enormous challenges and many passed into the hands of people who desperately need it. Her remain unsettled. “clientele” include referrals from local social service agencies, disabled veterans, elders barely making ends meet and even the In Netanya, home of the country’s largest Ethiopian community, residents of McRoberts, KY who have benefited as well. All are hope and help come from The Forgotten People Fund (FPF), an poor, some are hungry, and they universally welcome the basic all-volunteer group founded by Anne and David Silverman and necessities that most of us simply take for granted. Aida and Rabbi Yosef Miller, z’l. Working hand-in-hand with the city’s social workers FPF’s Rapid Response Team resolves “Green” well before saving the environment became a priority; pending crises such as a lack of food, unpaid utility bills or small Ranya has diverted more than $63,000,000 worth of product repairs. These lifesaving interactions have fostered a deeply from landfill to her warehouse since finding those first pairs of personal connection between volunteers and residents. shoes. We are proud that our funds underwrite Ranya’s major operating expenses. With a budget of about $50,000 and no Recently, FPF’s primary mission has broadened to one that paid staff this green program is most definitely lean. focuses on education as a stepping stone to long term success. The group, assisted by Jeff and Wendy Starrfield, retired social workers, has directed more resources toward scholarships for “TheG ood People Fund staff has taken the time to higher education or professional courses so recipients can get to know how we serve the most vulnerable, and develop the requisite skills to become self-sufficient productive what our organizational needs are. They truly care members of Israeli society. Nurses, social workers and teachers about our work and want to help us meet our goals.” are but a few examples of how FPF has cultivated a new

www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 16 ELDERS the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE for elderly, memory-impaired parents. Using the techniques of ELDERS two pioneer programs in the field of eldercare (both grantees of the Good People Fund) the goal is to increase compassion and Alice Jonah and ISR empathy within Israel’s caregiver community so that patients The Diplomat Hotel can be better treated and understood. Building a Community of Elders Helping Elders Zissie first introduced The Virtual Dementia Tour™, developed Though retired from her position as the activities director at by Dr. PK Beville. The “tour” simulates how dementia patients Jerusalem’s old Diplomat Hotel which had been converted to an actually experience basic daily tasks and gives caregivers a absorption center for mostly elderly Russian olim (immigrants), unique perspective into the challenges faced by those in their Alice Jonah remains an important lifeline, her presence still felt charge. This past year, Zissie partnered withD an Cohen, by the residents of this former luxury hotel. Alice deserves much founder of Music and Memory, to bring personalized music via of the credit for turning this stark facility into a warm home iPods to elderly Israeli nursing home residents with dementia, replete with a library, Hebrew language class, a choir, exercise Alzheimer’s and other isolating conditions. classes, computer lessons, trips and more. Our funding actually helped subsidize the purchase of iPods for Budget constraints have eliminated many of these “extras” but this project. We are particularly excited about the “marriage” of Alice’s home health aide project continues to be a life-saving so many of our programs and the benefits each receives from operation. Stronger, able-bodied residents earn a modest wage their connection to the other. to help those less ambulatory residents with everything from shopping, to travel to doctors, to light cooking — whatever LiLY-Lifeforce in Later Years uSA brings comfort and facilitates independence. Aides gain purpose Aging-In-Place Manhattan Style and self-worth in addition to income; those cared for receive invaluable attention and a sense of autonomy. At 85 years of age and living alone in Manhattan, Rita suddenly found herself sick and ultimately hospitalized. With no family Reminiscent of those earlier years, most recently Alice organized nearby, she faced many setbacks each time she returned to her Bayit Cham, a group which meets regularly to celebrate birthdays lonely apartment. Prescriptions needed to be filled; food brought and provides general socialization opportunities for the in; simple chores accomplished. Who would help? Tucked in residents. Our modest investment in this program, coupled with her discharge papers from the hospital was a flyer for LiLY- our grant for home health aides, pays far greater dividends than Lifeforce in Later Years, founded by Irene Zola. LiLY connects we could ever imagine. neighborhood volunteers with isolated, at-risk elders fighting to stay in their homes and avoid institutional life. In Their Shoes ISR Creating Awareness and Understanding It was Irene’s own experience with her aging mother that of Dementia and Aging spurred her interest and ultimate dedication to this huge social issue confronting so many seniors today. LiLY operates When we sat with one of these patients last week…we began playing in New York City’s Upper West Side where census figures have songs at random from the list we had prepared for him. …when he identified over 1,000 elders within a few square blocks. Today heard a particular Jewish instrumental song — “Oifen Pripitchik” — a neighborhood fixture, LiLY’s many dedicated volunteers he lifted his chin from his chest…and opened his eyes. I started to sing (some of whom are students from nearby Columbia University) the words of the song and he joined in. …He remembered the words regularly visit their companion, helping where needed by paying from when he was a young boy. This gave the occupational therapist bills, running an errand, sometimes, just sharing a cup of tea. a chance to start a conversation with him about his mother and his Irene reports that this high-touch, hands-on model has kept youth. The therapist started crying because she was so overcome by many elders in their homes and living independently. the change in this patient who had been, until this experience, totally uncommunicative. She said, “I know that people have said that this LiLY’s success can be attributed largely to the part-time social type of change can take place, but I didn’t believe it until I saw it with worker who coordinates services and acts as a liaison to my own eyes.” All of us had tears in our eyes at that point. family members. Reading Irene’s report on the social worker’s accomplishments convinced us that underwriting this line item What more could we add here? Zissie Gitel began In Their Shoes in her budget is an excellent use of the tzedakah entrusted to us. as an innovative response to her personal experiences caring www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 17 ELDERS the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE Project Ezra USA The Jack and Eleanor Borden uSA Serving the Frail Elderly on New York’s Lower East Side Kosher Meal Fund/ National Foundation You’re elderly. You live alone in a big city. If you have family, they may live far away. Your income is limited and by the third week to End Senior Hunger of every month you sometimes wonder if the few containers of Expanding Kosher Meal Services for Seniors yogurt and the quart of milk that sit in your refrigerator will take you through until the next Social Security or pension check After our meeting last Fall with Enid Borden, founder of the arrives on the first of the month. National Foundation to End Senior Hunger, or NFESH, we came to understand how this passionate and dynamic leader We’ve no doubt that this scenario plays out innumerable times might actually succeed in eliminating one of this country’s most each month all across America. For elders living on the Lower intractable social problems. Before starting NFESH, Enid spent East Side of Manhattan, however, help may come from Project more than two decades leading the very popular Meals on Wheels Ezra, a small agency founded in the early 1970’s by Misha program. With one in six seniors in this country facing hunger Avramoff and others, all social activists with a strong belief in it is clear what drives this firebrand. While Meals on Wheels personal responsibility and tikkun olam (repairing the world). focuses on providing food to hungry seniors, NFESH, as its name states, is focused on actually ending senior hunger, a goal that Though the number of elderly Jews has dwindled and the area Enid believes is attainable by aligning the strengths of research, is one of the city’s “hottest” new neighborhoods, many of those education and community partnership. that remain find it difficult to survive on limited income. It is our honor to underwrite a creative and effective arrangement Tucked within NFESH’s varied activities is Enid’s memorial to between Project Ezra and a small neighborhood market. Each her parents, The Jack and Eleanor Borden Fund which awards month, selected elders receive a $30 “credit” to buy extra food modest grants to community-based organizations that provide when all that is left in their refrigerators is the yogurt and the kosher meals to seniors trying to maintain their kosher lifestyle milk. No one should struggle with hunger — least of all our when faced with dwindling income and escalating expenses. Our elders grant to this fund has allowed NFESH to award larger sums to these local programs, thereby reaching even more vulnerable Survivor Mitzvah Project uSA elders. Providing For the Needs of Holocaust Survivors in Eastern Europe VETERANS IN THE US Bela is blind, Yudel had a stroke and can no longer walk, Galya is AND ISRAEL bedridden — these are but a few of the more than 2,000 elderly Jews who survived the horrors of the Second World War and now spend their remaining years struggling in remote corners of A Package From Home ISR Eastern Europe. All exist on meager pensions; many are totally Providing Creature Comforts to IDF Soldiers alone with no family or friends to help them. Medicine, heat, food, repairs on their modest homes are often beyond their Barbara Silverman founded A Package From Home (APFH) reach. during those dark years that began in 2000 when Israel faced daily terror attacks and soldiers stood on high alert throughout It was this vulnerable aging community that caught the the country. With a long history of social activism, from helping attention of Zane Buzby when she visited Belarus seeking to to free Soviet Jewry to preparing home-cooked Shabbat meals discover her family’s roots. Overwhelmed with what she saw, for Israeli soldiers stationed nearby, Barbara’s leadership has Zane, formerly a Hollywood comedy director, returned home always inspired. and began The Survivor Mitzvah Project which is dedicated to providing modest aid to these elders. For those she has already APFH provides soldiers not only with items of personal comfort reached life is a bit easier, but as time runs out there are so many like a clean t-shirt or sweet and salty snacks, but perhaps more more who suffer. Zane’s work will naturally wane because its meaningful, recognition that what they are doing is important focus will soon be gone. This is the last generation of survivors and appreciated. which makes our grants this year, directed to individual needs, all the more significant. www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 18 VETERANS the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE Since Barbara began the program, more than 200,000 packages their country or their fellow citizens. We’ve met Adam and have been sent to front-line soldiers in times of war and peace. can concur that this honor was well-deserved. With such an outstanding leader in place we are very comfortable providing All of the funds for A Package From Home were donor- funds for both additional internships as well as for equipment designated. for other vets starting their own farms.

Tzvika Levy and the ISR ILLNESS, DISABILITIES Lone Soldiers Program Extended Family for Soldiers Without Families in Country AND WELL-BEING

Sadly, the summer’s war in Israel brought unprecedented Amuta ISR attention to lone soldiers, those serving in the IDF without family in Israel, and also soldiers coming from economically- (Non-Profit) for the Emotional deprived families. Our connection to the lone soldier program Support of Girlfriends and Fiancées began several years ago when we met Lt. Col. (ret) Tzvika of Fallen IDF Soldiers Levy, a retired IDF officer responsible for placing these chayalim Grief Counseling and Care bodedim on kibbutzim. Tzvika has become their champion as they adjust to their new lives, on call at all times to provide them with Our task is to continue life, to make sure that these bereaved girls whatever they might need — a fan, a hot plate, a refrigerator build new homes, that they don’t remain stuck in their grief forever. and many times, a compassionate advisor and listener. As their advocate, he resolves any problems they may have with their On August 25, 1997, Phyllis Heimowitz lost her soon-to-be command or their assignments and intervenes on their behalf to son-in-law who was mortally wounded while serving the IDF in make their service more manageable. Lebanon. Her daughter, Michal, lost her beloved and her pain became all-consuming. Though only days away from the more All funds granted to Tzvika’s work were donor-designated. formal status as a fiancée of a fallen IDF soldier, Michal found herself, like so many other unmarried partners, ineligible for Veterans Farm USA counseling and support groups that the IDF offered widows Horticulture Therapy and Disabled Combat Veterans and immediate family members in the wake of a tragic, line-of- duty loss. Determined to fill this void for her grieving daughter, It may sound strange, but two of the most significant events Phyllis teamed up with her older daughter, Tamar, to establish in Adam Burke’s life involved medals. Adam is the founder of the Amuta (Non-Profit) for the Emotional Support of Girlfriends Veterans Farm, a Florida-based program that offers veterans and Fiancées of Fallen IDF Soldiers. Always delivered with love, with both physical and emotional disabilities a renewed sense compassion and a deeply personal understanding, their services of purpose by working outside, tilling the earth, planting and to the newly bereaved include both private therapy and support harvesting all with the eventual goal of a farming career. groups where shared experiences prove a source of strength for the survivors. Occasionally they also address personal needs A Purple Heart honoree for the significant injuries he incurred with the funds we send. Hundreds of women (and some men) through two deployments in America’s recent wars, Adam have benefited from their efforts and today even Israeli policy returned home not only with PTSD and TBI (traumatic brain has changed to recognize these survivors. injury) but also with a promise to help others if he could overcome his own disabilities. Veterans Farm grew from that We would be remiss if we did not mention Operation Protective promise and to date more than 32 vets have completed six- Edge even though it falls outside the purview of this fiscal month internships, learning what it means to manage a farm, reporting period. The case for the Amuta again became clear as while at the same time experiencing the benefits of horticultural 64 IDF soldiers perished this past summer leaving behind nearly therapy. More than 160 new start-up businesses (both in 30 girlfriends and fiancées, many of whom will be part of two agriculture and other areas) can be traced to Adam’s guidance new support groups soon to open. and commitment.

The second medal, the Citizen’s Medal, was presented to Adam Our Story: by President Obama in 2013. The award recognizes American http://bit.ly/1E6H9aD citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 19 ILLNESS the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE ATZUM ISR with grateful patient families. The hosts are a network of Helping Survivors of Terror, Righteous Gentiles, more than 500 families who provide free (or low cost) lodging and Victims of Human Trafficking to family members of patients (and sometimes the patients themselves, post-hospitalization) thus saving an estimated What do Israeli survivors of terror attacks, trafficked women and $6,000,000 in hotel fees. Beneficiary patient-families are both Righteous Gentiles all have in common? Since 2002, each group international and US residents. has been the beneficiary of the efforts of ATZUM, established in 2002 by Rabbi Levi Lauer. This lean and highly effective For founders Michael Aichenbaum and Nancy Wimmer the organization stands out as an exceptional model of how to need for a program like Hosts for Hospitals was deeply personal. remedy society’s injustices one person at a time and, further, Each faced serious cancer diagnoses that required travel to out how to inspire others to become agents of social change. Rabbi of state hospitals for extended treatment as well as prohibitive Lauer and his team rescue populations that by their nature or lodging costs for family members accompanying them. circumstances have become marginalized or overlooked and often don’t qualify for any other support. For both patients and hosts the benefits of home hospitality are many — not just the cost savings but the gratifying feeling Perhaps best known for its commitment to ending human of helping others during a difficult time. The fact that Mike trafficking within Israel’s borders through a task force dedicated manages to carry out this work with minimal staff makes our to educating the public and lobbying policymakers for reform, grant directed to administration even more impactful. ATZUM is leading the movement for the passage of legislation that will finally resolve this societal cancer. *Inbar ISR Finding Love For Everyone Our funds have made possible ATZUM’s work with those non- Jews who selflessly jeopardized their own lives to save Jews We also have some even more exciting news — another engaged during the Holocaust. So that these remaining 16 Righteous couple! …They sat together during our course this past year and Gentiles (and several widowers of rescuers) who now proudly gradually got to know each other better. …the rest is history, or call Israel their home can live their final years with the dignity rather, the rest is just beginning. and the recognition they so deserve, ATZUM has assumed responsibility for their physical and emotional wellbeing be it Rabbi Shaul Inbari, whose CP left him disabled and confined dental care, home visits or even flowers on their birthdays. With to a wheelchair, often dreamed of coming home each day to this support comes a clear message that their heroic actions will a warm and loving partner. As the years passed, he became never be forgotten — a message that also spreads to younger increasingly consumed by feelings of loneliness and isolation. generations through educational outreach that inspires children Unwilling to live his life alone and devoid of love, he shared his with each story told. frustration with his dear friend Shalomi Eldar who challenged him to action. The duo publicized a gathering for people with Hosts for Hospitals USA disabilities, certain there were others discouraged by the lack of Free Home Hospitality for Patients and Families social opportunities available. Within hours there were calls of interest and their first meeting drew a capacity crowd. Clearly Thank you and the many HOSTS FOR HOSPITALS volunteers these trailblazers had uncovered a deep unmet need amongst who opened their homes to us during our stay in Philadelphia for disabled people. our daughter’s illness. You were all bright lights during what was a very dark and difficult time. It was healing and comforting for us to In 2012 the pair organized Inbar to offer social events as well stay in homes; the host’s respectful hospitality gave us the space we as courses in relationships and social integration for people needed to rest; and your hard work, flexibility and empathy created across the spectrum of disabilities. With the help of several a calm space in the midst of lots of unknowns. All of these things, in matchmakers and other volunteers, more than 400 people are addition to the financial savings over our month stay, were a now registered in their database. Among the several other true gift… engagements and weddings the organization has facilitated was Rabbi Inbari’s own joyous celebration. With the Philadelphia area a major hub for nearly 75 healthcare institutions offering specialized medical treatment it is no Our matching grant enabled Inbar to hire its first social worker wonder that Hosts for Hospitals, established 15 years ago, has to implement the organization’s goals and provide support to the successfully matched more than 2,500 gracious host families growing number of disabled people seeking happiness and love. www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 20 the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE

Laurie Groner, Inbar’s dedicated Director, happily reports that and outpatient healthcare settings to assist people in coping this position has “increased their productivity exponentially.” with the transitions of aging, illness, death and grief as well as in identifying areas of growth. Jeremy’s Circle ISR Supporting Children Living With Cancer in the Family Surprising at it seems for a country with such strong spiritual roots, Israel lags behind its “peers” when it comes to pastoral Cancer wreaks havoc on any family and the family of the late care. Even for hospitals that employ a staff rabbi, this role Jeremy Coleman was no exception seven years ago when faced has traditionally been limited to ritual and occasional ethical with his stage IV stomach cancer diagnosis. A beloved father of decisions. For patients and their families seeking emotional three young children Jeremy saw firsthand how the disease took support few if any resources existed pre-Kashouvot. its toll both physically and emotionally on his family. Doctors’ appointments and treatments became their new normal. Our funds this past year underwrote the pastoral care program at Hadassah Hospital’s Bone Marrow Transplant Department. Fortunately for the Coleman kids, friends and family embraced We also offered a matching grant to ignite Kashouvot’s them and occupied their days with numerous distracting expansion. With a goal of adding a Kashouvot chaplain to an activities. Zoe, the oldest child, was particularly affected and additional site each year, these pioneering rabbis are one step longed for a playdate with another child whose daddy might also closer to making pastoral care a universal part of the Israeli have cancer. Jeremy and his wife Pamela Becker tried to fulfill healthcare system. Given their skills, training and compassion, this wish but there simply was no organization in Israel that we have no doubt they will succeed. could facilitate this kind of meeting. New York Center USA Shortly before his death, Jeremy, Pamela and Jeremy’s two for Law and Justice sisters conceived Jeremy’s Circle, a community of friendship Justice for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community and support for children and young teens in families touched by cancer. His legacy, a child-centered model rather than one Silvy is a deaf single mom and a victim of domestic violence. focused on the cancer patient or adult caregiver, will be felt for For the past three years she and her two teenage daughters generations to come. Today, the organization hosts informal fun have occupied one room in a New York City homeless shelter. days that bring joy and some normalcy to those children who Without the help of Bruce and Liz Gitlin, founders of the New participate. Jeremy’s Circle has also established a nationwide York Center For Law and Justice, this family would be unable to play-date database that discreetly matches children according to navigate the bureaucratic maze necessary to apply for permanent age, gender and location. housing or even Social Security benefits. Few of us will ever understand the challenges of being deaf in a hearing world; to be With more than 250 families participating in its activities, deaf, indigent and in need of legal services in New York City is a Jeremy’s Circle welcomed our challenge grant that would allow challenge most would find near impossible to overcome. this all-volunteer group to grow with the addition of professional leadership. With a stronger foundation in place, Jeremy’s Circle Liz and Bruce are both attorneys and Liz a licensed social worker can cast a wider net so that even more families will benefit. as well. Equipped with this perfect combination of skills and endless compassion the two have spent the last 11 years building Kashouvot ISR metropolitan New York’s only legal services center focused on Advancing Pastoral Care in Israel serving indigent deaf clients. With minimal staff, the Center also advocates on behalf of asylum seekers and victims of Their day began by comforting a 30-year old homeless HIV trafficking and strives to remedy unfair labor or public housing patient who suddenly turned psychotic and was taken in practices. handcuffs to another hospital for observation. It ended with their arranging a phone call to reunify an elderly Russian We have directed our funds not only to individual needs of patient and a long-lost cousin in Germany. Highs and lows are destitute clients, but also towards a new focus, the Deaf Rights certainly part of any job, but for Rabbis Miriam Berkowitz Project, which initiates lawsuits to ensure enforcement of and Valerie Stessin, co-founders of Kashouvot, these extremes disability statutes (particularly language access, including the occur regularly. Dedicated to advancing the field of pastoral care requirement of American Sign Language interpreters in public in Israel for individuals of all faiths, Kashouvot includes a small places) designed to protect their deaf clients. team of professionally trained chaplains who frequent inpatient www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 21 ILLNESS the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE *Shalheveth ISR insurance companies altogether, circumventing mandated Independent Living for Severely Disabled Adults reporting of confidential sessions and managed care practices that encourage the over-prescription of medication or that place I can eat what I want when I want, I can wash my clothes when I undue pressure on a therapist to terminate treatment before want, I can go to sleep when I want, if I want. the client is ready. VIP provides a win-win situation for all parties involved. Patients receive affordable and truly private This resident’s simple but powerful words describe the very therapy along with the well-documented therapeutic benefits essence of Shalheveth, a Jerusalem apartment-complex setting that come from helping others, and the community receives for severely disabled adults, founded by Miriam Freier in 1997. hundreds of hours of volunteer service. Since 1999 more than He does not exaggerate when he further infers that Shalheveth 560 individuals and families have volunteered more than 20,000 has given him his life. hours and earned 5,000 therapy sessions. The group’s minimal overhead, which our funding helps maintain, speaks even more When you visit Shalheveth and meet with other residents — powerfully to the impressive statistics. many of whom have lived in institutions prior to obtaining their own apartment here — it is clear that “S” speaks for all of them. We have known Miriam for many years and can even recall when OUTREACH AND the apartment complex was but an unfulfilled dream which drove Miriam’s actions day and night. INREACH

It was Miriam’s earlier experiences with a young girl, disabled Keren Baktana ISR and confined to a hospital, which led her to appreciate the Revolutionizing the Culture of Giving profound difficulties such people face in the “normal” world. Amongst Young Israeli Professionals For those often confined to institutions where life is restricted and colorless, Miriam dreamed of a place where the seriously They say three is a crowd, but not forKate Rosenberg, Orly disabled adult could live independently (with a caregiver, if Shafir and Emily Friedman-Novak, the triumvirate who necessary) in the manner that he or she wished. Shalheveth’s has sewn together so seamlessly a beautiful program, Keren apartments are just that. The moadon (community room) Baktana, to pioneer a culture of philanthropy amongst young provides a space to socialize and the internal chair lifts as well as professionals in Israel. Though each comes to Israel from a an outside elevator ensure accessibility. Our funds have helped different country their paths eventually crossed while working underwrite the cost of a van and driver who shuttles residents as fundraisers in the non-profit field and studying at Hebrew to medical appointments, work (for those who are employed), University. cultural events — wherever they need to be. The concept of philanthropy amongst young Israelis is not as Volunteers in Psychotherapy uSA popular as it may be here in America where young people are Affordable, Private Psychotherapy exposed to teen philanthropy programs, Hebrew school tzedakah Through Volunteering boxes and more. Combine that with the explosion of innovative social projects to support underserved populations, and a rare So this fits beautifully into the idea of a better world, where opportunity presented itself to these women. Keren Baktana, something you can do to improve your community helps you help or, “Little Foundation”, sits at the intersection of these dual yourself if you’re going through tough times. I think it’s a beautiful and contrasting realizations. Our funding has been directed to concept… marketing assistance so that now, more than two years since its launch, Keren Baktana has grown to a network of a 10 We couldn’t agree more with this testimonial from a client micro-giving circles for young professionals. Chapters found of Volunteers in Psychotherapy (VIP), a Connecticut-based throughout the country consist of 10 to 15 “trustees” who pool program started by Dr. Richard Schulman in 1999. Dr. 100-200 shekels each month and grant 3,000 shekels to projects Schulman’s unique approach addresses the prohibitive costs of that ignite change, proving, as the name suggests, that a little therapy as well as the erosion of privacy as a result of managed can indeed go a long way. Giving circles benefit from access care. VIP clients commit to four hours of volunteer work at a to Keren Baktana’s online platforms as well as marketing and charity of their choice in exchange for every hour of reduced- administrative support. cost psychotherapy. VIP therapists commit to maintaining the integrity of the therapist-client relationship by avoiding www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 22 OUTREACH the GOOD PEOPLE GUIDE Kulanu USA Our grant has allowed Marla to develop a more interactive Helping Little-Known Jewish Communities website which offers prospective volunteers a detailed picture of Around the World the many ways they can help.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the grant… which has allowed Kulanu to aid five separate communities in Latin America. The five communities could also not be more different…

For these five communities in Latin America, like so many geographically isolated Jewish communities worldwide, Kulanu has literally been a lifeline for nearly 20 years. One look at a globe and we are hard-pressed to find a region that has not been touched by Kulanu’s efforts to embrace and uplift isolated pockets of Jewry. Different though they may be, these communities are united in their desire to further embrace their Jewish heritage and connect with the broader Jewish world.

Powered almost entirely by volunteers under the capable leadership of Harriet Bograd, Kulanu, which means “all of us”, has certainly lived up to its name, showing with each community that it touches just how it is that “all of us” can and should extend a hand to fellow Jews. “GPF does “micro-philanthropy” - donating to Our grant this year fostered Judaism in five little known Latin small, often start-up, programs in the US and American communities recently discovering their Jewish roots. Israel. They exemplify the adage of “a little bit goes Thanks to our funds not only are these groups now outfitted with everything from prayer books to educational resources, but a long way” - its grants are tiny by comparison to also a greater connection to world-wide Jewry. most funds but the impact those grants make is massive. That’s why I like it so much: they move *Skilled Volunteers for Israel uSA fast, they create tangible results…” Professional Volunteer Opportunities in Israel

Teenager? College student? Want to volunteer in Israel? No problem — programs abound. For Baby Boomers who comprise 77 million people all poised to retire over the next several years, or others even older, the opportunities were few. Marla Gamoran was just one such boomer disappointed and frustrated by the lack of professional volunteer positions in Israel. Marla decided that if no such organization existed perhaps she should create one, and in 2011 she established Skilled Volunteers for Israel to offer adults additional options.

Skilled Volunteers for Israel fills this void by connecting experienced, mature adult professionals and retirees from North America seeking meaningful skilled volunteer opportunities with Israeli amutot (non-profit organizations) and education programs for one month or more. These volunteers offer valuable skills such as organizational development, technical expertise, marketing and communications assistance and more. It is a win- win for everyone involved and judging by the testimonials from past participants, the benefits are enormous. www.goodpeoplefund.org • find us on: 23 ALLOCATIONS

OrganizatION aLLOCation OrganizatION aLLOCation

HUMAN NEEDS AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY POVERTY Special Individual Needs 131,009 Down the Block 3,500 Family-to-Family 13,407 HUNGER Fund for Needy Immigrants 10,650 Amir Project 12,000 Gabriel Project Mumbai 6,603 AmpleHarvest.org 10,000 Kentucky 14,055 Backpack Buddies 1,000 Keren Segulat Naomi 5,000 Darchei Tzion-The Beit Shean Food Pantry 3,852 Mitzvah Circle Foundation 17,900 Food Forward 11,000 One Can Help 7,500 Gideon Ben Ami* 25,577 Sunday Friends 11,735 Necha Malka 16,562 The Forgotten People Fund* 40,353 Second Helpings Atlanta 5,000 The Redistribution Center 23,500 The Bagel Brigade 5,500 Yad Chessed 6,174 Village Harvest 4,900 Youngstown Community Food Bank 6,368 ELDERS Zehava and Karyn-Feeding the Neighbors 4,000 Alice Jonah and The Diplomat Hotel 8,150 In Their Shoes 7,500 KIDS LiLY-Lifeforce in Later Years 9,200 Art Creation Foundation for Children 8,564 Project Ezra 3,600 Beit Hayeled* 43,014 Survivor Mitzvah Project 7,500 Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Israel* 75,000 The Jack and Eleanor Borden Kosher Meal Fund 3,500 Birthday Angels 1,953 Breaking the Chain Through Education 3,250 VETERANS IN THE US AND ISRAEL Change the Truth 2,500 A Package From Home** 84,047 Creating Connected Communities 4,000 Tzvika Levy and the Lone Soldiers Program** 66,379 Jack the Bike Man 1,000 Veterans Farm 12,000 Kaima* 110,680 Leveling the Playing Field 5,000 ILLNESS, DISABILITIES AND WELL-BEING Reading Village 7,207 Amuta (Non-Profit) for the Emotional Support of 1,500 S.A.H.I. 6,500 Girlfriends and Fiancées of Fallen IDF Soldiers Shutaf 17,350 ATZUM 8,500 St. Joseph’s Baby Corner 1,858 Hosts for Hospitals 6,000 The Quincy Kids 467 Inbar 6,000 Tzimaon 3,372 Jeremy’s Circle* 16,442 Kashouvot 15,000 WOMENS EMPOWERMENT The New York Center for Law and Justice 7,500 Female Hebrew Benevolent Society 2,165 PanAfrican Acupuncture Project 2,500 Get Jewish Divorce Justice* 18,428 Shalheveth 14,571 New Orleans Women’s Shelter 10,000 Volunteers in Psychotherapy 4,000 Unchained At Last 17,500 Yotsrot-Turning The Tables 15,650 OUTREACH AND INREACH Keren Baktana 5,500 ALTERNATIVE HEALING OF BODY AND MIND Kulanu 4,000 HAMA Israel-Humans and Animals in Mutual Assistance* 96,303 Skilled Volunteers for Israel 4,000 INTRA-Israel National Therapeutic Riding Association* 16,075 Lev Leytzan~Heart of A Clown 5,000 Music & Memory 8,100 *A portion of this grant was donor-recommended Shelter Music Boston 8,200 **All of this grant was donor-recommended Tunefoolery 1,000 24 STATEMENT

Statement of Activities and Functional Expenses for the Period July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014

Support and Revenue: Total Contributions 1,300,820 Investment Income 546 1,301,366

Program Management Fundraising Total Services and General

Grants: 1,201,490 -0 -0 1,201,490 Expenses:

Salaries* 49,000 36,500 36,500 122,000 Payroll taxes 4,111 3,060 3,060 10,231 Web-related Expenses* 6,586 1,881 941 9,408 Administrative Support* 615 175 88 878 Bank and credit card fees 4,153 1,187 593 5,933 Insurance 1,292 369 185 1,846 Marketing* 18,233 - 0 12,155 30,388 Office - 0 2,184 - 0 2,184 Payroll service 574 164 81 819 Postage and shipping 1,047 299 150 1,496 Professional Fees - 0 10,430 - 0 10,430 Telephone and Internet 223 64 32 319 Travel and entertainment 6,019 1,720 860 8,599 Total expenses 91,854 58,033 54,645 204,531

Total grants and expenses 1,293,344 58,033 54,645 1,406,021

Change in Net Assets (104,655) Net Assets at July 1, 2013 394,454 Net Assets at June 30, 2014 289,799

*These costs are underwritten by specific donations made available for that purpose.

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Food Children Disabled insecure in the adults find families receive Mumbai slums love and help from enjoy healthy companionship. neighbors. meals. See p.20 See p.13 See p.14

Frail elders Dropout receive Israeli youth support to live mature through independently. organic farming. See p.17 See p.7

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